Protection barrier devices provide protection in manufacturing environments, for example, to protect a worker from potentially hazardous processes. By way of example, a protection barrier device can shield a factory worker from welding sparks, arc rays, and automated equipment.
Related patents and published patent applications known in the background art include the following: U.S. Pat. No. 6,145,571, issued to Snyder on Nov. 14, 2000, which discloses a rolling barrier having a curtain formed of fabric or other material that rolls onto and off of a tube preferably disposed above a doorway or opening to, respectively, block and unblock the opening, the edges of the curtain are received within guideways disposed laterally of the curtain, and which guide the curtain edges to maintain the curtain in a planar orientation during travel; barricade members extending across the curtain (and thus the opening when the barrier is in the closed or blocking position) have their ends disposed in the guideways as well to reinforce the curtain and prevent personnel or objects from passing through the opening at least when the barrier is in the closed position. The barrier may also include a detector for detecting when the door is in or at least approaching the fully closed position and coupled to other electronics to control or regulate operation of the enclosed machine.
The foregoing patent information reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be pertinent to the patentability of the technology described herein. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing patent and other information do not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.